A Woman's Worth
by LucretiaDecoy
Summary: Totally AU Jaeger fic. The Hercules Factory trains soldiers to defend the universe from evil. Jaeger and his squad are assigned to Earth to fight a band of villains trying to enslave the human race.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** By far my most diverse UM fic, this one is placed in a TOTAL alternate universe. This prologue is perhaps a bit slow and may seem off the subject, but it is necessary to set up the main storyline. The action will pick up in the next chapter, but until then, please bear with me. And the title of this one will make a lot more sense in later chapters – I completely accept that right now it seems like a screwy title for a fic about Jaeger as a soldier...

Also I'm aware that dates don't quite correlate to the world of Ultimate Muscle, but what the hey. Note IMF substitutes for IWF. Posted without the phonetics in the accents.

I'm reposting this because I did promise a loyal reader (who has helped and supported me muchly with my writing) that I would write a fic devoted to Jaeger, and he would be hard in it. So, more than 3 years later, I'm keeping good on my promise! Hope this can be all you hoped it would be (you know who you are).

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ultimate Muscle or any of the characters herein, but I do own the A/U this fic takes place in!

* * *

**Prologue**

The rain fell relentlessly on a cold, dark October night, driving people indoors. The sky was thick with cloud, not a star in sight. A lone figure of a man walked calmly through the streets of a small village just outside of Berlin, a very long trenchcoat covering his body from the weather, the collar turned up around his jawline. A soft leather hat kept his head dry, and excessively large, black leather boots adorned with metal kept his feet warm.

Brocken Junior was heading in no particular direction, and was deep in thought; but a small shop window across the street attracted his attention. He stopped in his tracks, his straight-set eyebrows lowering over his eyes. Although it was late, and all the local shops were closed, a small electrical shop was still illuminated by six television sets in its window display, all playing out the same scene simultaneously.

"Feh," Brocken muttered, stepping onto the cobbled road with a clunk.

He trudged across the old road, stopping by the window to watch the silent scene play out before his eyes. Brocken's top lip curled backwards in disgust as he watched Robin Mask lower himself to one knee before the Queen of England. It seemed the news channel was showing highlights of the events from earlier that day. Robin Mask receives his knighthood, the Muscle League Justice Chojins are heroes, the Intergalactic Military Federation reassures the public that the world is safe from the menace of the DMP, and humans the world over unite to celebrate victory and their newfound freedom.

A bright green ball rose through the sky with a fading scream, a stream of light behind it, before it exploded with a bang, falling down in a cascade of green dots. A red light followed, then a yellow, then a white. Brocken shook his head, pulling his cap further down his forehead he turned his back on the flashing and banging of fireworks, and began to walk away. He was certain that there would be no room for an aging man like him at any party, and no doubt his pessimistic and sceptical outlook would be equally as unwelcome. Whilst the whole world rejoiced at the apparent demise of an evil force that had run amok on Earth for many years previously, causing pain, suffering and even death to countless innocents, Brocken Junior could only dwell on the ominous thought that defeating the DMP had seemed far too easy.

Brocken thrust his hands into his coat pockets, hunching his shoulders against the miserably cold rain. In his opinion, it was idiotic to let off fireworks in such weather, and it was nothing short of masochism to expect that the DMP were truly gone for good and to rest on one's laurels. It was not that the fight against the band of Devil Chojins had not been trying or long; it was simply that the DMP had been seemingly defeated in the past, only to rise, much like the proverbial Phoenix from the flames, to be stronger, more resilient and even more deadly than before.

But Brocken's concerns had thus far fallen upon deaf ears; Suguru merely laughed at him, Terryman told him he was going crazy and Robin Mask told him he needed to find a new focus for his life. Brocken found absolutely nothing funny about the potential threat another new generation of DMP Devil Chojins posed for the Earth and he knew that he was not going crazy. As for finding a new focus in his life, all he had managed to find since the DMP disappeared was alcohol; and lots of it, at that.

With that thought in mind, Brocken aimed himself for the small tavern by the edge of the village, preparing himself for another night of trying his hardest to drown his sorrows and concerns in the hope that optimism and happiness would somehow shine into his life with the rising of the sun the next day.

* * *

With every passing year following the Muscle League's victory over the DMP, the people of Earth grew more and more complacent. A whole generation passed, a full twenty years, and still peace reigned on the benign planet. Those who were old enough to remember the dark, dismal times when the DMP had been a formidable force that wreaked havoc wherever they went were growing older, and the younger generations either did not believe the stories about the DMP, or failed to truly understand just how terrible those times had been. Even those who had lived through the ordeal had been healed with time, and often wondered if they had not perhaps been mistaken about just how dangerous the DMP were.

The Muscle Leaguers themselves were aging men, all of whom had moved on from their roles as super-human defenders of the innocent to lead more settled lives, all following a more domestic route in their careers. None of the old Justice Chojins gave so much as a second thought to the DMP; none, that is, except Brocken Junior.

Regarded as nothing more than a cynical, drunken old man, Brocken still refused to stop believing that the DMP had been disbanded forever; and he knew, deep down, that his suspicions were not unfounded. On the first day of the twenty-first century, a series of unusual crimes took place in various parts of the world, killing several innocent humans. Whilst no-one else would listen when Brocken suggested that it may have something to do with the DMP, scepticism began to grow amidst the Muscle League when the crimes continued throughout the year 2000.

Eight months into the year, close to one million people had been killed, all of whom were either female or under the age of eighteen. Although the people of Earth viewed the killings as nothing more than radical groups of terrorists who their governments would somehow take care of some time soon, the Muscle League began to take the threat a little more seriously, and began holding meetings at the IMF headquarters once a month to discuss and monitor the situation. Although Brocken attended every meeting, he still failed to get his point across.

And so Brocken decided against going to the August meeting. He was growing weary of being ridiculed and put down all the time, and so he instead he passed most of the day in the local tavern, only heading home when he ran out of money in his pocket. In his heavily inebriated state, Brocken took slightly longer than he usually would to notice that something was not quite right when he arrived home.

"Hello, Sir," a voice greeted him.

Brocken squinted at the small figure hunched by his fireplace.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing here? How did you get in here? I won't have thieves in my house!"

"I'm not a thief, Sir," the boy replied, chancing a small smile as he looked over his shoulder at Brocken. "You were a very strong man in the IMF, ja?"

Brocken edged closer to the boy, squinting harder. The boy's voice and youthful face made him appear to be about eight years old, yet he had the body of a very physically fit fourteen year old.

"Who are you?" Brocken asked again.

"My uncle and aunt called me Jaeger," the boy replied, standing up and turning around to face Brocken. "And I came to see you because I was hoping you could train me to become as strong as you are."

Brocken slowly eyed the boy over, unable to disguise the scepticism in his face. The boy was dressed in torn, khaki green shorts, a ragged yellow vest, a well-worn pair of brown sandals, and on his head he wore a bright green helmet bearing the letter J.

"I don't train anyone," Brocken said coldly. "Least of all an impudent little boy like you. Now get out of my house and leave me alone."

"Please, wait, there is something I have to show you first," Jaeger said hurriedly. "Look at this!"

Jaeger spun around, chopping a hand through Brocken's stone fireplace, shattering it effortlessly. Brocken yelped out in alarm, his eyes widening as the boy turned back to face him, grinning sheepishly as he prodded a toe at the pile of rubble he had reduced the fireplace to so readily.

"You are a superhuman!" Brocken gasped, walking up to the boy.

"So will you train me?" Jaeger asked optimistically.

Brocken eyed Jaeger over again, a smile slowly creeping onto his tired, aging features.

"Jaeger, you say?" he asked.

Jaeger nodded, his eyes large and bright with unrestrained youthful exuberance and determination.

"From today my boy, you are my schuler!" Brocken said, grabbing the boy up and holding him above his head. "I will train you in the ways of a superhuman; can you survive brutal training to become the best?"

"I won't give up, I just want to get stronger!" Jaeger replied, daring a small smile as he looked down at Brocken.

Brocken could not help but smile himself as the sight of the eager young boy brought memories of his own childhood flooding back into his mind; the days when he had believed himself invincible, unstoppable and had spirit enough to make all his dreams come true. The threat of the DMP, the mysterious terrorism around the world and the idea of drinking away the rest of his life began to melt away from Brocken's conscience. This innocent boy with his irrepressible spirit was not only the saviour that the world needed in such dark times, but he was a blessing upon Brocken's own life, as at last he had a focus, something to work for, a contribution he could make to the efforts to fight the problems building across the globe.

"The training begins immediately," he said, straightening out his smile and roughly planting the boy back onto his feet.

But still the sparkle danced across the boy's eyes as he nodded keenly in agreement. Perhaps, Brocken thought to himself, this boy could exceed even his high expectations.

* * *

The heavy, low ringing of the clock tower from down in the centre of the small town informed Brocken that it was nine o'clock; and he almost felt ashamed that he was yawning, his feet and hands betraying him in his tiring state, causing his bicycle to snake around beneath him until he snapped himself back to attention and righted it. It had been raining all day, it was unusually cold for a late summer's evening and the route Brocken was taking through the little town was on a distinct incline, that only appeared to be getting steeper as Brocken's environment determined to exhaust him. But looking ahead of himself, up the slope at the middle of the road, Brocken saw the reason that he had to continue.

It had been almost two years since Jaeger had come to live with Brocken, and everyday was spent training in every aspect of being a defender of the planet. Brocken had been increasingly harsh on the boy, physically and psychologically, and still the glow of determination shone from his eyes, still he squared his jaw, straightened his back and confronted every challenge with the same vigour he had possessed on the day Brocken had first encountered him. Ahead of Brocken, the young boy was running up the road in badly worn shoes, ragged shorts and a tattered vest, seemingly oblivious to the conditions around him, and apparently unhindered by the old church bell he was dragging behind him by means of a rope Brocken had tied around his waist.

Brocken pushed himself a little harder as he found Jaeger pulling away from him. As much as he hated to admit it, the boy was starting to become too much for him. By the time he was grown, Brocken knew that he would no longer be any use to Jaeger as a teacher, no longer strong enough to keep up with his youthful speed, strength and agility. But Brocken had already decided that when that day did arrive, it would be time to tell Jaeger about the Hercules Factory, and enrol the boy there, where Brocken was confident that Jaeger would excel and graduate at the top of his class, surely landing himself a place amongst the ranks of the Elite Squad, the finest ranking of defending military officers who oversaw the protection of Earth.

But just as images of Jaeger donning the scarlet graduation gown marking him as an Elite entered Brocken's mind, he was suddenly brought hurtling back down to Earth as a sight in direct contradiction of his dreams played out before him. On the road ahead of him, Jaeger had just collapsed from exhaustion, the bell rolling back behind him and dragging his limp body a short distance back down the road before the laws of friction slowed them both to a halt.

"Jaeger!" Brocken yelled, leaping off his bike and sprinting up the hill, his own fatigue soon forgotten as a rush of panic spiked the adrenaline in his body.

Before Brocken's bike had fallen to the ground behind him, he was on his knees at Jaeger's side, his jaw hanging open, his eyes wide as he took in the boy's appearance. As hard as Brocken was pushing Jaeger, it appeared that Jaeger had been pushing himself even harder; his face was pale, his limbs were trembling and his lips were blue.

"Jaeger, talk to me!" Brocken said, touching a hand to his shoulder and gently shaking him.

"I'm sorry, Lehrer Brocken…" Jaeger said, his voice faint.

To Brocken's utter astonishment, Jaeger placing his shaking hands flat against the road and pushed himself up, arranging his feet beneath himself before daring to attempt standing upright. He wavered a little, his complexion turning a worrying shade, suggesting he was about to vomit from sheer exhaustion, and on instinct, Brocken reached out his hands towards Jaeger, ready to catch him before he fell again. Jaeger had yet to open his eyes, but Brocken could see that his fall had drawn blood from his bare knees, elbows, palms and nose; but as Brocken tried to help him, Jaeger pushed back his offer, his eyes snapping open and fixing onto Brocken in an iridescent glare that told Brocken the fall had done no more than harden Jaeger's unshakeable resolve to become stronger.

Brocken let out a small noise of bewilderment as Jaeger started off again, quickly picking up his pace and running onwards even faster than before. Realising that he would never catch the boy on foot, Brocken hurried back to his bicycle, mounting it and pedalling as fast as he could to pass Jaeger. No child, superhuman or otherwise, possessed such raw ambition without a staggering amount of motivation, and that worried Brocken. What was this boy's motivation? What was it that gave this mere child the courage to fight on, to push himself to his physical limits and beyond? Jaeger claimed that he "just wanted to be strong"; but Brocken was no idiot, and he had finally had enough of accepting that tired old excuse from Jaeger. Cycling hard, Brocken passed Jaeger and swung around in front of him, braking across Jaeger's path and forcing him to stop.

Brocken stood astride the bicycle, frowning at Jaeger expectantly, but his look was returned with one of confusion from Jaeger, who despite still looking awful still had the hardened look of an infallible resolve on his face. Brocken threw aside his bike with a curse, marching up to Jaeger and grabbing his vest, yanking him off his feet to bring the boy's face level with his own.

"Why are you doing this?" he demanded. "Why are you pushing so hard? What drives you? Answer me honestly this time!"

Jaeger's confusion shifted to a look of almost impatience that he had been interrupted and that his teacher should need to ask such a question.

"All my life, people treated like a pest because of my weird powers," Jaeger began, his voice strong and clear despite the fact that his body was shivering violently in Brocken's hands. "But my aunt and uncle treated me like a normal person, they raised me like a normal boy. One day I came home and a gang of men were attacking my aunt and uncle because of me, because they believed I was a monster! I fought them, but they beat me down and ran off. I woke up after they had gone, but I was too late. My uncle was already dead and my aunt was dying. I couldn't save them!"

"I see…" Brocken said slowly, lowering Jaeger back to the ground. "You came to me to train you so that you could kill people you hate."

Jaeger swayed as his full weight rested on his feet once more, but he was sent flying to one side as Brocken smacked him hard across the face, catching him with a back-handed slap as he fell, sending him back again.

"We superhumans cannot think we are better than humans because of our superior strength!" Brocken yelled at him. "It is out duty to protect and defend, not to abuse our powers for selfish gain!"

Brocken made to deliver a third slap, but Jaeger charged forwards, avoiding the blow and driving his head into Brocken's gut, the head-butt strong enough to force the air from Brocken's lungs, sending him staggering back choking in shock.

"I'm not training to kill!" Jaeger shouted, balling his fists and glowering up at Brocken, his face bruised, muddied and soaked from the rain, his bright eyes only shining all the brighter by comparison. "But I can't forget what happened to my aunt and uncle! I'm training to fight for people like my aunt and uncle, to protect them so that they never have to suffer like my aunt and uncle did!"

Brocken touched a hand to the red mark Jaeger's helmet had left on his bare chest, tilting his head a little as he eyed the boy before him. He suspected that Jaeger had actually broken a little, and it almost looked as though he was crying; but against the rain on his face it was difficult to be sure. Brocken reached a hand towards him, pausing as Jaeger's eyes thinned and he winced a little in anticipation of another blow. Brocken felt suddenly guilty as he took in the little wretch's appearance, gently touching his hand to the top of Jaeger's helmet.

"I just want to be strong!" Jaeger whispered.

"And I just want to help you achieve that dream," Brocken said softly.

Jaeger stepped forwards and loosely put his arms around Brocken's waist, burying his face into Brocken's abdomen. Brocken stiffened a little before sighing out in defeat and resting his hands onto Jaeger's shoulders, allowing him to hold on until his sobs had subsided. After all, the boy had worked so hard, and now that Brocken was confident that his intentions were perfectly good, he finally felt that Jaeger truly would be the light of hope for the failings of the world they lived in.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** After several years of intense training, Brocken takes Jaeger to the Hercules Factory to train as a defender of Earth, where Jaeger makes some friends in his fellow trainees; although one cadet in particular makes a significant impression on Jaeger. **Chapter 1 – The Hercules Factory**.

**A/N(2):** Don't expect frequent updates (at the moment anyway). Too busy with work and Power Struggle, but I will try to get some chapters up in between all that.


	2. The Hercules Factory

**A/N:** I'm crazy flowing over with ideas, a thousand ways to woo a lover so sincere, love and hate what a beautiful combination – wait, what? There was a point (kinda like how my stories have a plot, it's in there somewhere, just really, really difficult to find) and that is I am crazy flowing over with ideas for this fic (after thinking I had none) and apparently I still love Erasure, even though their popularity peaked before I could walk upright…

**Recap:** Brocken Junior took on a young Jaeger as his student and trained him to become strong; but Brocken realised the day would come when Jaeger would need to attend the Hercules Factory to truly become as strong as he wished to be.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – The Hercules Factory**

Jaeger looked about himself, his jaw hanging open without shame. Other than fleeting sprints around Berlin, Jaeger had no experience of large crowds of people or large buildings, and suddenly he found himself in a building as high as it was wide, and the corridors around him were positively abuzz with bodies. Jaeger wanted to laugh as he spotted others like himself, just as his teacher Brocken Junior had told him there would be, other superhumans, some positively bizarre-looking, making Jaeger's fears of being regarded as a freak dwindle into obscurity.

Looking down at the letter in his hands, Jaeger again quickly read over the words of Sir Robin Mask, the Dean of the Hercules Factory, confirming that Jaeger had a place in the class of 2010, in group C. Jaeger then remembered passing a sign indicating where each group should go to register their arrival, lifting his head and looking about for any further clues as to where group C ought to be. After a few seconds of looking, Jaeger could only find signs pointing towards group B registration, leaving him feeling a little foolish that he had, yet again, in his childish glee at being in such a noble place, gotten himself perfectly lost.

With a sigh, Jaeger turned on his heels and started to jog off back in the direction he had come, letting out a groan as he collided with something that yelped and bounced off of him, clattering into a sign denoting "The Ten Commandments of the IMF". Both the sign and the person fell to the ground in a tangled mess, drawing some degree of attention from the others milling around, most of who turned to watch the ensuing melee with varying degrees of amusement.

"Ow…" a soft voice complained quietly.

Jaeger started in alarm, his face flushing as he realised that the small body lying at his feet, whilst dressed in loose combat gear, was apparently a girl, around the same age as himself.

"Miss, I'm so sorry!" he hurriedly apologised, reaching down to take her hand and carefully helping her back to her feet.

She was about average height and slender in build, with medium brown hair that she wore tied loosely at the back of her neck. As she looked up at Jaeger she smiled sheepishly, blushing a little.

"It's okay," she said gently. "It's my fault really, I wasn't looking where I was going. And I came the wrong way. I'm not in group B."

"Me too!" Jaeger blurted out, before shaking his head a little at the sound of his own eagerness in his voice. "I mean, uh, I'm not group B, I came the wrong way also."

"It's so confusing, isn't it?" the girl asked, breaking into a smile that was apparently infectious, as Jaeger found himself mirroring her expression.

"I'm Jaeger," he offered.

"Oh, hi, I'm Roxanne," the girl replied, nodding her head. "I guess you're probably a superhuman too, huh?"

Jaeger nodded quietly, stealing a glance around himself as his mind finally registered what appeared to be wrong with his predicament: he was a superhuman, at a training facility for superhuman defenders of the galaxy, surrounded by fellow superhumans, and yet standing directly in front of him was an ordinary girl in her late teens, dressed in clothing befitting a military cadet and carrying a letter of acceptance from Sir Robin Mask identical to the one Jaeger held.

"The situation is so bad, they're letting normal humans register to join the IMF too," Roxanne explained as she caught the curious look on Jaeger's face.

"Oh, I see…" Jaeger said slowly, feeling almost a little disappointed.

Brocken Junior had told him that the Hercules Factory would mean fighting against and training alongside his fellow cadets in very close quarters for several months, and Jaeger had never envisioned any of his peers being female, far less being average human females. The thought of practising hand-to-hand combat with a girl like the one before him made him feel awkward, embarrassed and apprehensive all at once.

"So, are we in the same group?" Roxanne asked, smiling at Jaeger again. "I'm in group A."

"Uh…" Jaeger began, his eyebrows twisting as he looked at his own acceptance letter again. "I'm in group C."

"Oh, okay." Roxanne said, nodding her head. "That's a pity, I thought maybe we could walk to class together… Oh wait, that sounded like I was… I didn't mean anything by it, just that we're both lost, and it would have been convenient if we could have walked to… It was nice meeting you Jeager, maybe I'll see you around?"

Jaeger frowned, watching the girl dash off, her face redder than the carpet at their feet. Looking around again, Jaeger finally saw someone he felt might be able to help him. Standing at the end of the corridor surrounded by bags and looking completely confused was a large, tall man with ragged red hair who was clearly a superhuman. He looked as lost as Jaeger felt, and so Jaeger jogged over to introduce himself in the hope of finding a kindred soul who could help him.

"Excuse me?" he began as he approached the stranger. "I'm lost, do you know where group C registration is?"

The man turned to Jaeger, eying him over sceptically before smiling slightly.

"Sorry buddy, if I knew where group C was meant to be, I wouldn't be standing here like a turkey," he said. "I'm looking for group C too."

He held up a crumpled, well-handled acceptance letter to Jaeger that indicated that he was to be one of Jaeger's class-mates.

"But two heads are always better'n one, so stick with me kid, maybe we can figure it out together, huh?" the man offered.

Jaeger nodded.

"I'm Jaeger," he offered.

"I'm Eskara," the man replied. "People call me Scar-face."

Jaeger's face dropped as his eyes were drawn to the red scars Eskara bore below each of his eyes.

"Relax kid, that was a little joke," Eskara said, slapping the back of his hand against Jaeger's stomach.

"Oh…" Jaeger said, before letting out a small, forced laugh.

"You ain't another one of those superhumans who got raised away from society, are ya?" Eskara asked, eying Jaeger sceptically.

Jaeger shook his head, but found himself unable to vocalise his lie; after all, his aunt and uncle had lived in a remote location, and life with Brocken had been extremely isolated, as they only ever really spent time with each other training.

"They sure gotta lotta pretty girls here, ya know," Eskara added, winking at Jaeger and jerking his head to one side.

Jaeger leaned to one side, innocently following the direction Eskara appeared to be indicating. Girls were a bit of a foreign concept for Jaeger, as he had no real experience of them other than the kind woman in the local shop in Brocken's village who had gifted him with food when he passed by her home. Occasionally Jaeger had noticed girls watching him when he had been training with Brocken, but he had never had the time or desire to acknowledge them, and so he expected very little from looking at another nameless girl.

But this one, Jaeger silently acknowledged, was different to any other girl he had ever met.

She was tall and toned, dressed in what looked like formal military dress for a female officer: a navy blue pencil-skirt, a navy blue blazer and a matching beret. She wore a white scarf made of delicate material, the ends of which were tucked into her jacket in a manner that almost implied that she wore nothing else on the upper half of her body. Jaeger gulped nervously at the idea, watching the woman strut proudly through the throngs of people around her, who all appeared to be parting to allow her to pass, as though they too all detected her distinct aura of authority. As she drew nearer, she casually flicked a hand at her hot-pink hair, tossing it over her shoulder.

"She's beautiful…" Jaeger blurted, starting in alarm as Eskara turned to grin at his outburst.

"Yeah, she is," he agreed. "So how about a little wager, Jaeger?"

"What?" Jaeger echoed, frowning curiously at Eskara.

"What do ya say, are you a gambling man?" Eskara asked, grinning playfully. "Let's have ourselves a little bet: I say I can get inside that skirt before you do."

Jaeger baulked at Eskara's words, a cold jolt of sheer horror flooding his body. Was this man seriously suggesting they attempt to deflower the beautiful girl as a game?

"Gentlemen."

Jaeger turned as the woman approached them, saluting them in her greeting.

"Hey toots, I'll be your Drill Sergeant any time," Eskara answered her.

Jaeger gasped, unsure he even understood the reference; but apparently the woman Eskara had addressed understood it perfectly as she stopped in front of him, planting her hands on her hips and arching her eyebrows at him tersely.

"You must be "Scar-face"," she said with a tight smile. "Group C is back that way," she added, pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

"And of course you would be Group A?" Eskara asked her.

"Of course," she plainly replied. "And I expect to graduate as an Elite. I don't expect to ever serve alongside you, however."

"I hear those Elite girls like a bitta rough sometimes," Eskara said slyly, dragging his eyes over her slowly.

"Not me," the woman said. "Roughneck soldiers are cannon fodder, and of no interest to me."

She turned to Jaeger eying him over thoughtfully.

"You must be group B," she concluded.

Jaeger opened his mouth to answer her, but no sound came out. He had not expected her to be so confident, least of all in the face of Eskara's crude innuendos.

"So princess, do you gotta name?" Eskara asked her, drawing her attention back to him.

"Jacqueline," she answered him. "Miss McMadd to you. Good day."

She turned smartly on the spot and marched on, leaving Jaeger alone with Eskara once more. Jaeger watched her for a moment before turning to Eskara, finding him watching Jacqueline go, a devious look on his face.

"She's hot for me," he said. "Sorry Jaeger, looks like ya lost already."

"She was beautiful," Jaeger said, feeling suddenly dumb that he could not formulate any other phrases to come out of his mouth.

"Hey, I know that guy! Looks like you're my lucky charm kid, first you bring a beautiful woman over to me, and now you got us out of this mess," Eskara said, brightening as he hoisted up his bags. "Don't you have any luggage?" he asked, eying Jaeger over.

"Um…" Jaeger began, tugging at the backpack hanging on his shoulder.

"Here, you can take one of mine," Eskara offered, swinging a bag around forcefully and almost winding Jaeger with it.

Jaeger nodded and attempted a smile as he clutched onto the bag, surprised by its weight as Eskara released it. Eskara seemed suddenly confident of his surroundings, and Jaeger was unsure if it was an act or not; but either way he found it reassuring and so he followed after him.

"Hey Mask, how are ya, ya son of a bitch?" Eskara called out.

Jaeger skidded to a halt, anticipating a riot as he spotted the man Eskara was addressing: it appeared to be Sir Robin Mask himself.

"Scar-face, it's a pleasure as always," the masked Chojin replied sarcastically, stepping out into the foyer to meet Eskara.

Jaeger sighed in relief as he saw that the man approaching Eskara was not in fact Robin Mask. Although he wore a mask very similar to the one Robin wore, this man was much younger and had long blonde hair.

"You're three years behind the rest of us, and I'd bet my left arm they put you in group C," the man said as he came to a stop in front of Eskara.

"Yeah, I'm in group C," Eskara casually replied. "But that's cause they know I'm a tough guy, I'm better off getting my hands dirty and kicking some ass. So where did they put you? In group B with all the other nancy boys?"

"Group A actually," the masked man flatly replied.

"Of course!" Eskara said a little to loudly, slapping a hand against his forehead. "Couldn't have the son of the Dean graduating without his red dress!"

"Laugh it up now Eskara, because you won't be so amused when I surpass you in the mid-term assessments."

"Yeah, we'll see about that…"

Jaeger bowed his head politely as the tall masked stranger briskly took off again, before turning to Eskara for an explanation.

"We went to high school together," Eskara offered. "I had to miss year of school because my parents moved around a lot. When I got to England, I failed some stupid test and they put me back another year. Kevin Mask was ahead a year, and we in the same classes, even though he's three years younger than me."

"Oh," Jaeger said, slowly nodding his head.

"I didn't pass any A Levels, but I never wanted to be a pencil-pushing jerk in a office someplace," Eskara continued.

"What's an "A Level"?" Jaeger asked.

"That's the qualifications you get when you go to school in England," Eskara replied. "You must have had something like that where you came from, right?"

Jaeger remained silent, his brain slowly replaying images of schools he had run by in his training with Brocken Junior. Jaeger had attended school when his aunt and uncle were alive, but after they were killed and he was literally left to live off the streets, Jaeger had stopped going to school, and there was certainly never any time for school in his life with Brocken. Brocken had made him read books, but they had been about military tactics and good nutrition.

"Nobody told me I needed to ace those exams to become an Elite," Eskara muttered. "I never even turned up for my exams, I was sure I would pass anyway."

"Why?" Jaeger asked.

"Huh?" Eskara asked, apparently awaking from some private dream.

"Why did you not sit your exams?"

"Cause I was boning the head teacher, I figured I wouldn't have to do any actual work."

Jaeger froze on the spot, watching Eskara with wide eyes of disbelief. Eskara appeared not to notice his shock however as he started off down the corridor Jacqueline had indicated would lead to group C registration. A little unsure if he had fully understood Eskara's last remark, Jaeger's mind instead drifted to the salient point of their conversation: apparently ranking with the IMF was not only dependent on physical training, but also on intelligence. Brocken Junior had never mentioned any exams or qualifications before, and Jaeger found himself almost on the point of panic.

"Eskara, wait!" he called, hurrying after his newfound friend.

Eskara did not stop, but he did slow down, watching over his shoulder as Jaeger ran at him.

"So what did you do to deserve getting dumped into group C?" Eskara asked Jaeger as he rejoined him.

"I don't know," Jaeger confessed. "Lehrer Brocken was pleased when I showed him my letter, he said he was in the Roughnecks and that was the best place to be."

"It is the best place to be for fun," Eskara replied. "But you got no control over anything working on the ground, out on the front line. If you're in Intelligence, you know everything that's going on, and if you're an Elite, you can pull rank on anybody expect the Generals and above."

"So we will be Roughnecks now because we are in group C?" Jaeger asked, feeling more confused than he dared to admit to.

"Not necessarily. If you do well in the mid-term assessments, you can get moved into another group. And they only rank you after the final assessments."

"Assessments? Is that like an exam?"

"Yeah. They'll test us in all areas: hand-to-hand combat, physical endurance, psychological aptitude under pressure, priority information handling, data encryption and decryption…"

Eskara listed a few more things, but Jeager had stopped listening. Hand-to-hand combat and physical endurance sounded fine to Jaeger, but he did not even know what any of the other things were, much less how he would be able to excel at them in a matter of months. This, he reasoned, was the real reason why he was in the lowest class. Although he was confident of his physical prowess, Jaeger's schooling was shameful to say the least, and apparently it had just let him down. Jaeger tried not to let the thought bother him, as Brocken had made life as a Roughneck sound wonderful; he would be working on the front line with those who were suffering and he could help them in the way he had wanted to since witnessing his aunt and uncle's murders.

But a small part of Jaeger still felt a little disappointed that Brocken had apparently been living vicariously through his student, training him exclusively for one purpose and never even informing him of his other potential options.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** The new students of the Hercules Factory set about finding themselves "training buddies", which, as Jaeger discovers, quickly turns into a hectic affair as everyone tries to prove their own toughness against each other. **Chapter 2 – Got a Lot to Learn**.

**A/N(2):** Determined to keep these chapters under 3K words, hence the abrupt ending: this one was over 7K words…


	3. Got a Lot to Learn

**A/N:** More because this is the second half of the first chapter.

**Recap:** Jaeger arrived at the Hercules Factory, where he met Roxanne, Eskara and Kevin Mask. Jaeger found out that he is in group C, which isn't necessarily the good thing Brocken Junior made it out to be.

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Got a Lot to Learn**

After registering and agreeing to share a room with Eskara and two other superhumans in group C named Hydrazoa and Road Rage, Jaeger made his way down to the forecourt at the centre of the Hercules Factory building, where many of the other cadets appeared to be gathering. Jaeger had changed into the standard issue murky green combats and beige tank-top, hoping that he could convince some of his fellow superhumans to join him in a sparring session, if only to gauge his strength against them, something he had never yet had the opportunity to do.

"Oh, Jaeger!"

Jaeger stopped short, looking about himself at the sound of his name, amazed to hear it called as he still felt lost in a sea of strange faces. The sound of footsteps running at him drew his attention to one side, and he saw the girl from earlier running towards him dressed in the same outfit he had on, waving a hand enthusiastically above her head.

"H-hello," he greeted her, grinning nervously as his brain went blank upon trying to recall her name.

"Are you going to the work-out?" she asked, pointing at the doorway Jaeger had been aiming himself towards.

"Uh, ja, I was," Jaeger said, nodding his head. "And you?"

"Yeah, I figured I need all the practise I can get!" she said, rolling her eyes and grinning brightly. "I always thought I was pretty tough until I joined the army back home… Also, I hear you need to find yourself a partner at these sessions, someone who matches you closely in physical ability to help you train, and I really need that! I think I'm the weakest person here!"

"Probably yes," Jaeger replied, nodding his head.

The girl gasped, her dark eyes growing wide as she looked up at Jaeger.

"You really think so?" she asked faintly.

"My teacher told me there were never any women in the Roughnecks," Jaeger told her frankly. "Because women are not physically strong enough to fight in one-on-one combat. They are more suited to office jobs."

The girl yelped, looking suddenly hurt and offended by Jaeger's words; but his attention was drawn away from her as he saw Jacqueline enter the room, looking as divine as before, even though she was dressed in the same plain fatigues as he was, her hair swept up into a knot on top of her head. She smiled as he caught her eye and waved, starting in his direction. Jaeger watched her approach, gulping as he suddenly found himself filled with trepidation.

"Jaeger, are you listening to me?" the girl in front of him demanded angrily, stamping a foot at him.

"Excuse me Rochelle," he said to her, before walking around her and starting towards Jacqueline, intending to meet her in the middle of the room.

"It's Roxanne!" the girl behind him yelled after him.

"Well, fancy meeting you here," Jacqueline said as he drew nearer, smiling coyly. "It seems like we just keep bumping into each other."

Jaeger opened his mouth to answer her but stopped short as he suddenly found himself dwarfed under a dark shadow, looking up to see Kevin Mask approaching them.

"I've already told you, I'm not interested in anything other than taking my place in the ranks of the IMF and restoring some glory to the Earth," Kevin said coldly.

"Oh Kevvy, you are cruel!" Jacqueline said, pouting up at him.

"This isn't a game, this is war," Kevin told her. "Stay out of my way."

Jacqueline huffed petulantly as she watched Kevin march off. Once she had lost sight of him she turned to Jaeger, slowly eying him over before tilting her head curiously.

"Aren't you one those group C boys?" she asked.

Jaeger nodded dumbly still unable to find his voice when under the arrest of her stunningly beautiful green eyes.

"How dull," she sighed, walking off and leaving Jaeger in her wake, watching her with his jaw hanging open.

Jaeger only awoke from his stupor as he heard a distinct cheer arise from outside, which seemed unusual. He hurriedly ran out to the forecourt, finding everyone clapping and whistling from their places stood around the perimeter walls. In the centre of the forecourt stood two large superhumans, each circling around, eyeing each other defensively.

"What's the matter, you scared?"

Jaeger stepped forwards in interest as he realised that the superhuman who had just spoken was in fact Eskara.

"Of you? Don't make me laugh."

The other stepped around into Jaeger's line of sight, revealing that it was Kevin Mask.

"So what gives?" Eskara asked, smirking at Kevin. "If you're not scared and you think you're as strong as I am, why won't you be my sparring partner, huh?"

"You couldn't possibly keep up with me," Kevin retorted.

"Oh yeah? Let's see you keep up with this!"

Eskara pounced at Kevin who expertly leapt aside, kicking out a leg to trip Eskara. Eskara started to fall, but grabbed Kevin's legs with both hands and rolled over, dragging Kevin over his body, the two of them falling face-down onto the concrete. They both got up at the same time, but Kevin was the first to attack, kicking at the back of Eskara's knees before either had fully righted himself. Eskara's eyes widened a little, but he quickly launched himself into a backflip, Kevin's leg swinging around through the air, barely missing his intended target. As Eskara landed on his feet, he held out his hands at his sides and smiled at Kevin, drawing another cheer from the other cadets watching.

"I'll give you three weeks," Kevin said flatly. "If you fall behind me by even the smallest of margins, you can find yourself another training buddy."

Eskara nodded his agreement and the two backed to the surrounding walls, another Chojin running into the centre of the forecourt to take their place.

"Who wants to be my partner?" the young superhuman asked, grinning at everyone around him.

"Hey, ain't you Suguru Kinniku's son?" Eskara called over to the boy awaiting a response to his challenge.

A ripple of chatter passed over the other cadets in the forecourt, followed by a short silence and finally a rush of would-be challengers, all keen to test themselves against the son of the legendary General Kinniku, bringing a scream of terror from the object of their attentions.

Turning away from the chaos at the centre of the forecourt, Jaeger saw Roxanne approaching Jacqueline, apparently asking her to be her training partner. Jaeger watched with a degree of interest as they commenced a physical battle, which Jacqueline very quickly took the upper hand in, ending with her pinning Roxanne to the ground face-down, one arm twisted painfully up her back. Jacqueline did not release Roxanne until she surrendered, turning from her victory with a brilliant smile, her eyes almost instantly finding Kevin Mask. Jaeger felt his spirits sink as he watched Jacqueline hurry after Kevin, apparently uninterested in any other person at the Hercules Factory.

Jaeger turned away from her, deciding that he really ought to find himself a sparring partner and soon, before his choices became too limited. Looking about himself, Jaeger eventually spotted someone who was a little shorter than him and a little less bulky in build, but apparently a real master of martial arts, as the stranger was tackling two enormous superhumans at once. This person was clearly another superhuman with advanced skill, and being a smaller Chojin probably meant that he would be a better compliment to Jaeger's training techniques than a giant like Eskara would have been. His interest peaked, Jaeger started towards the cadet, his confidence slowly giving way to confusion as he watched what was happening.

Although the two larger cadets were attacking the one smaller, lightweight student, they did not really appear to be trying to fight the smaller Chojin. Instead, it seemed like they were merely teasing him as part of some sort of game, which only seemed to be making him angry, his attacks becoming more vicious and slightly less focussed. Then something happened that made Jaeger stop in his tracks and gasp louder than he would have liked to: the lightweight fighter fell to the ground, the cap he had worn falling from his head, a tidal wave of pale pink hair following it. The fighter turned sharply to glower up at the two Chojins still laughing at what had just happened, affording Jaeger a full view of his face. Or rather her face, because it seemed that the high-flying Chojin was in fact a woman.

"Stop mocking me!" she growled out, tearing off her shirt and getting to her feet, adopting a defensive stance.

Underneath her shirt she was wearing the same standard issue tank top as Jaeger, which showed that she had well developed muscles in her arms and shoulders; but she was not without the curves of a woman, which drew a series of low whistles from the men around her.

"Hey dunderhead, get with the times!" she snapped, fixing her eyes onto a particularly large Chojin who had three large spikes protruding from his head. "This is the twenty-first Century pal, there's a crisis on Earth, and I'll make a better soldier than you ever will!"

"Hey baby even us soldiers enjoy a nice home cooked meal, I'm sure there'll be a place for you in my squad!" the man replied, drawing more laughter from the men around him.

"Take me seriously!" the woman replied, almost screaming at him, her face reddening. "I came here to become stronger, I can't do that if you won't fight me properly!"

The man in front of her shrugged and she snarled, aiming a kick at his chest. He caught her ankle, using his other hand to push back the leg of her combats, exposing the lower part of her leg.

"Hey nice legs baby," he said.

The woman yelped as she lost her balance and fell, hanging by her ankle. She only looked panicked for a brief moment though, kicking up her other leg to drive her heel into the underside of her opponent's chin. He staggered back, but did not release her. Still undeterred by her predicament, the woman swung her arms forwards and reached up, grabbing her hands at his head. He laughed as her fingers closed around the air mere inches from his face; but she did not fall back down as everyone watching had expected her to, instead holding herself up with surprising strength. She grabbed at her opponent's shoulders and thrust her head forwards, head-butting his chin. He cursed and released her ankle, and with feline-like reflexes she somehow landed on her feet and shot a hand out, the heel of her hand aimed at her opponent's nose; but he caught her hand, grinning at her darkly. Obviously she was outmatched in strength and in a prone position, and Jaeger wondered how she would escape unharmed.

"I like a girl with small fingers," her opponent instead said, moving his tongue towards her hand.

"Ew, gross!" she yelped, tugging at her hand and kicking his elbow.

She barely managed to slip her hand from his before he made contact, staggering back and scowling at him angrily through a curtain of pink hair.

"Hey if you're a good girl, maybe I could get you a place in group A with me," the man said to her. "Cause let's face it, you're here to find yourself a husband from the Elites, right?"

"How dare you?" the girl growled. "I came here to stop the injustice that's going on back on Earth! I'm not here to play silly games, I'm here to get stronger and to defend the weak from whatever evil it is that's causing all those problems!"

"There's no place for a woman on the battlefield," her opponent replied. "If you really wanna help the cause, why not have some babies to help restore the population?"

The girl gasped, her arms dropping at her sides. The man insulting her merely shrugged, nodding at his comrades who all followed after him as he walked away, leaving the pink-haired female Chojin watching him with barely restrained shock and anger. After a few seconds her eyes shifted, and Jaeger suddenly found her staring directly at him. She straightened and tried to look menacing for a moment, only to sigh and slouch her shoulders forward.

"What are you looking at?" she asked him. "Don't tell me you've never seen a female Chojin before?"

Jaeger took a step closer to her, stopping his advance there as she instantly snapped back into her rigid stance.

"No," he replied honestly. "Before I came here, the only other superhuman I knew was my teacher. He told me there were no female Chojins."

"Well that was stupid," the girl replied with a short sigh. "Admittedly, most Chojins are male. After all, it's a genetic thing, most Chojin offspring are born male, it's very rare for the child of a Chojin to be female, but we do exist. And we are strong."

She sighed again, sweeping her hair back over her head, her face becoming clear to Jaeger again. She looked a little disheartened, but her eyes were bright with determination, and after hearing her declare her desire to help the weak back on Earth, Jaeger found himself holding her in much higher regard than he had when her identity had first been revealed to him. And the way her opponent had mocked her so shamelessly after her bold and honourable statement made him feel a degree of sympathy for her, as they had almost seemed like the band of thugs who had killed his aunt and uncle, and mocked him for being strong.

"I'm the only strong woman here this year," she added, avoiding Jaeger's eyes. "So I'm having problems finding a training partner."

Jaeger remembered than why he had approached the girl in the first instance: it had been her fighting style that had attracted his attention.

"Apart from my teacher, I've never trained with another superhuman," he began slowly.

"Me neither," she replied. "Until today. I've been fighting off sexual advances all day."

Jaeger turned to her, and she smiled telling him that she had been making a joke. Her smile faded and she chewed on her lip, her eyes thinning a little as she studied Jaeger. To his surprise, she then tried to kick him in the head. Jaeger hurriedly ducked out of her range, turning to her questioningly.

"I just want someone to take me seriously," she said as their eyes met.

Jaeger shrugged, kicking his shin into the small of her back and sending her to her knees.

"Ow!" she complained, pushing back her hair and glaring up at him.

She squeaked as Jaeger reached for her, leaping to her feet and hopping out of his reach. She jabbed a fist at Jaeger's jaw but he blocked her with one arm, aiming a punch at her gut. She brought up one leg, his knuckles crunching against her knee.

"Hey…" she said slowly, tilting her head a little as she regarded Jaeger. "You're really trying to hurt me!"

"You said you wanted somebody to take you seriously," Jaeger replied, tightening his hold on her fist and quickly twisting her arm around her back.

She made a sound that almost sounded to Jaeger like laughter, running her feet up the nearby wall and leaping over his head, pulling his own arm around his neck and capturing him into a sort of sleeper-hold. Jaeger tried tugging his arm in various directions, but she had caught him in quite an impressive bind. Bending his legs to lower himself to her level, Jaeger doubled-over and tugged his arm forwards, attempting to throw her over his shoulder. He felt her roll over his back and release his arm, flipping over his head to land on her feet.

She landed a little awkwardly, her long hair blinding her, and as she tried to wipe it from her eyes, she stumbled into a small stone statue and fell over, landing in a crumpled heap a short distance from Jaeger. Shaking his head and smiling in a mixture of bemusement and amusement, Jaeger slowly made his way over to her.

"You must be another group A student, right?" she asked, smiling up at him.

"I'm in group C," Jaeger replied, feeling increasingly ashamed to admit so, especially after Jacqueline's reaction to hearing his ranking.

"Really?" the girl in front of him squealed excitedly. "Me too!"

"Oh…"

Jaeger hesitated amazed to see her look so impressed and pleased to learn that he was in group C.

"That means we'll be in classes together!" she added.

Again Jaeger found himself remembering Brocken's tales of the Hercules Factory, and again he wondered just how out of touch his old teacher had actually become, because Brocken had never mentioned female Chojins, female students at the Hercules Factory and he had never prepared Jaeger for fighting a woman; but apparently he had also omitted to reveal the fact that in order to reach the higher ranks of the IMF, Jaeger needed a solid academic background, and so Jaeger conceded that perhaps there were a few things that even Brocken could not teach him, and he would need to learn for himself.

"Hey, what's your name?" the girl asked him, awaking him from his thoughts.

"Jaeger," he replied, reaching a hand towards her. "What's yours?"

"I'm Fiona," she replied, taking his hand and pulling herself to her feet.

"Well Fiona, I think you need to do something with your hair," Jaeger told her.

She nodded, smiling sheepishly.

"But I would like it very much if you would be my training partner," Jaeger added.

Fiona gasped, her jaw falling open as she looked at him.

"Really?" she asked.

Jaeger nodded, offering her a small smile. She blurted something out in what Jaeger could only assume was her own language before grinning at him cheerfully and tucking her hair behind her ears.

"I think we can be good friends too, Jaeger!" she said, slapping him on the arm with more force than was ladylike.

Jaeger nodded again, silently wondering just how much more there was in the world that Brocken had not taught him about that he would be forced to learn during his six months at the Hercules Factory.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Classes begin at the Hercules Factory and Jaeger finds himself on a steep learning curve in more ways than one. **Chapter 3 – ABC 123**. 


	4. ABC 123

**Recap: **Jaeger chose Fiona as his training partner and Kevin Mask agreed to train with Eskara.

-

* * *

-

**Chapter 3 – ABC 123**

"Good morning group C, welcome to the Hercules Factory, my name is Terryman, and I will be your guide for the next six months."

Jaeger sat upright in his seat, intent on paying close attention to anything Terryman could teach him. He was looking forward to advancing his knowledge base as he wanted to do his very best as a soldier, and Eskara had told him he would need a good education to achieve that goal. They were sat in a large lecture theatre, with a semi-circular stage at the front where Terryman stood, three large whiteboards behind him and an enormous projection screen above that. Facing the stage were seven curved rows of desks, lined with folding seats, which was where Jaeger and Eskara were sat. Eskara had insisted on sitting in the back row, where the lighting was at its poorest, leaving them under a substantial shadow; which Jaeger still found to be an odd desire on Eskara's part.

"By now I'm sure y'all have noticed we have three classes each of around twenty students here this term," Terryman continued. "When you applied to the Hercules Factory, we assessed you based on physical ability, educational achievement and any previous proven experience in warfare. You were grouped according to how you ranked into either group A, group B or group C. In some cases, the choice of where to put you was obvious. In some other cases, it was difficult, and some of y'all here today are almost at group B standard, likewise some of group B are close to group C standard, so bear that in mind when you're studying and training: a little hard work, and you could be moving up a class after the mid-term assessments.

"Now let me explain to anybody here who doesn't already know what the ABC system really means and how it works. We expect students in group A to graduate with top marks in all areas, which means we expect them to join the ranks of the Elite Squad. We expect group B students to finish around the middle, making them best suited to the ranks of the Intelligence Squad, and we expect group C – that's all of y'all – to graduate at the bottom, which means y'all ought to join the ranks of the Roughnecks. Now being in the ranks of the Roughnecks ain't nothing to be ashamed of, the famous General Kinniku and myself both served as Roughnecks for most of our careers. The Roughnecks are the ground soldiers who work on the front line in direct combat with the enemy. Intelligence work behind the scenes, sometimes infiltrating enemy camps to recover any information that may give us an advantage over our enemies, and the Elites make the decisions on tactics and typically fight from behind the lines, either from the air or as an emergency back-up to the other squads if they get themselves into any serious danger."

Jaeger quietly nodded his head, glad at last that he understood the significance of groups A, B and C. He turned to Eskara to gauge his reaction to what they had just been told, jerking on the spot as he found Eskara slouched over the bench in front of them, his eyes closed and his mouth open, the slow and steady rise of his shoulders indicating that he had fallen asleep. Jaeger turned back to Terryman sharply, tensing as he wondered what he ought to do. He wanted to wake Eskara before he was caught sleeping through class, but he was worried that he would either be reprimanded for not paying attention as he tried to wake his friend, or else Eskara would make some sort of noise from being awoken suddenly and alert unwanted attention to them both.

"You got three simple assessments you gotta pass," Terryman continued, oblivious to Eskara's snoozing form as he was obviously hidden amongst the shadows. "First of all, you gotta pass what we call general competency, and y'all get tested on that at the end of your first six weeks here. Your results will be posted on the public noticeboard in the main hall, but will have no immediate effect on your current ranking. At the end of your sixteenth week we have everybody's least favourite assessment, the full battle simulation. All three groups will be put out onto a simulated battlefield where they gotta fight against each other in their respective disciplines: for you guys that's as Roughnecks, out in the field. After your second assessment, your grades will be posted again, and by the end of week seventeen, the Hercules staff will let you know if you've done well enough to move up a grade. Please remember that for every group C cadet who moves up, one student from group B has to move up or down to make a place for you. It's not unheard of for a student to move from group C to group A after the second, or mid-term, assessment, and likewise, it ain't unheard of for a group A student to end up in group C. At the end of your twenty-sixth week, you will have two weeks of testing in all areas that will ultimately decide where you are ranked. If for any reason you fail the mid-term or final assessments or cannot complete them, we will review your performance in the first assessment and second or third and base your grade on that. And that doesn't mean that you can put in a good performance in the first assessment and not bother with the other two, you must sit at least two of the assessments, and you must pass all three. If ya don't pass all three, you will be expelled from the Hercules Factory. Anybody got any questions about any of what I just told ya?"

Jaeger had several questions, but did not want to draw Terryman's attention to himself and the napping Eskara. From the corner of his eye, he saw Fiona – who was sat down in the front row – eagerly raise her hand.

"What's your name, soldier?" Terryman asked her.

"Fiona Sir," she replied, standing from her seat and saluting him.

"At ease. What's your question?"

"Sir, what happens if a student in group C does badly on all three assessments?" she asked. "Other groups move down a group, but what about us? Are we automatically failed if we do badly?"

"Good question soldier, sit down," Terryman replied.

Fiona obediently sat back down, sitting forwards eagerly to hear their teacher's reply.

"The answer is yes," he said bluntly. "There's no room for error here, and I expect anyone in group C to be working even harder than the student in groups B and A, because you guys have got everything to gain and no safety net to catch you if you screw up. Any more questions?"

A tense silence had befallen the room after Terryman's words, and looking down at the front row, Jaeger could see that even Fiona looked nervous after hearing the answer to her question.

"Moving on then," Terryman said, his voice echoing a little around the unnaturally quiet hall. "For the next sixteen weeks, unless you do something stupid and fail your first assessment, all twenty of y'all will be spending a lotta time together, so it's important ya get to know each other. We expect all twenty of you to ultimately graduate as Roughnecks, where y'all will be working real close together, and y'all will probably be in the same squad for the duration of your careers. These people around you ain't just a pack of strangers no more, these people are your brothers and sisters, and you gotta learn to look out for each, support each other and work as a coherent team. With that in mind, I'd like y'all to introduce yourselves to the rest of the class going along the rows this way, starting at the front."

Terryman pointed at Fiona, who stood from her seat, turning to give a small smile and bow of her head to the rest of the class.

"Hello everyone, my name is Fiona, I'm from Romania on Earth, and I came here to stop the injustice that's happening all over the world back home," she said, before bowing her head again and sitting down.

Terryman pointed at the next student who stood to introduce himself. Jaeger glanced nervously back and forth between the front row and Eskara, silently wondering what he ought to be next. Would Terryman be angry with him for not waking Eskara? Or would it be worse if he was caught waking him and not paying attention? Jaeger chewed on his lip, one foot quickly jittering against the ground as he tried to reach a decision, his throat becoming dry with nerves as the students introduced themselves at an alarmingly quick rate, Jaeger's turn – and ultimately Eskara's turn – drawing worryingly closer. As Road Rage stood to introduce himself, an idea finally occurred to Jaeger, and he waited for Hydrazoa to stand, his body blocking out Terryman's view of Eskara. Jaeger hurriedly kicked Eskara in the shin, drawing an angered growl from him that thankfully was largely drowned out by Hydrazoa's voice. He lifted his head, squinting up at Jaeger with an irritated frown, but Jaeger ignored him, rising to his feet to take his turn introducing himself.

"Hello everyone," he said, feeling a little nervous as his own voice echoed back at him and the other students around him all turned in their seats to look at him. "My name is Jaeger, I am from Germany and I came here to become stronger so that I can protect the people who are suffering back home."

Jaeger sat down, glancing at Eskara with wide eyes. Eskara gave him a small smile and nodded, rising to his feet and doing nothing to disguise the still sleepy look on his face.

"Yeah, hey there, I'm Eskara," he said casually. "I was born in Italy, but I've lived all over the place. I came here to join the IMF so that I could destroy the bastards who are raising hell back on Earth."

Eskara started to sit back down but Terryman held up a hand, halting him mid-way.

"Stand up again Eskara," he said.

Eskara straightened up once more, watching Terryman expectantly.

"Boy, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but there are two important things I want you to know," Terryman began. "First of all, we ain't here to learn how to kill. In your assessments, more points are always awarded to those who find solutions to problems with the minimum of fatalities. Our enemies may be lethal, they may even be killers themselves, but we can't bring about peace by copying the actions of evil-doers, so nobody is gonna be destroying anybody, ya hear?"

"Sure," Eskara said, with a small, unenthusiastic nod, before adding "Sir" as an afterthought.

"Second boy, if I catch you sleeping in my class again you'll be answering Sir Robin Mask himself, is that clear?" Terryman added darkly.

A fleeting look of panic passed over Eskara's features, leaving him looking suddenly a lot more alert.

"Yes Sir," he agreed.

"Alright, sit your ass back down and pay attention this time," Terryman told him.

Eskara dropped back into his seat with almost enough force to make Jaeger topple out of his own seat. Jaeger turned to Eskara, but his friend was grinning, apparently unaffected by his reprimand. Jaeger was unsure Eskara was a good person to be associated with during his studies at the Hercules Factory; but he was still a lot more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the training facility than Jaeger was, and he was still one of Jaeger's room-mates, and so avoiding him was clearly going to be an impossible task. Jaeger smiled back, and turned back to the front of the class, his smile quickly fading as Eskara slumped over the desk in front of them again and closed his eyes.

-

* * *

-

"I love the rain!"

Jaeger tilted his head curiously as Fiona skipped around in a circle, grinning brilliantly as a crash of thunder resounded above their heads, followed shortly by an almost blinding crack of lightning that illuminated the entire sky.

"Hey Jaeger, you're not nervous are you?" she asked, playfully punching his arm but again using almost enough force to bruise.

"No," Jaeger lied.

He could hardly believe that it had already been six weeks since he had joined the Hercules Factory the time seemed to have flown past. He had seen very little of the cadets outwith his own group, but during their training together, he had gotten to know his classmates a little better, and he felt a lot more confident interacting with them. Eskara had continued to sleep through classes and Terryman had continued to catch him, sending him repeatedly to Robin Mask's office. Eskara would return with a smile and a shrug, and disappear during the night, which Jaeger had suggested to him he ought not to do, as his night-time escapades were doubtlessly the cause of his in-class narcolepsy; but Eskara was apparently a bit of a rebel, and always just laughed off Jaeger's advice.

Fiona had been a good friend, she had trained with Jaeger after classes every day, and on the one day from seven that they did not have classes, Jaeger would often find her sitting out in the gardens beyond the Hercules Factory reading books and studying various things that were still a little unusual to Jaeger. She had been kind enough to help Jaeger find the best books and she always read over his work to make sure that he had understood the material. She told him she was happy to help him academically because he was helping her physically; although he had found his conscience gnawing at his soul one particular day they had studied together and she had been sporting a particularly nasty black eye, which had been caused by a punch Jaeger had been confident she could have blocked.

But Fiona was quite a playful character, and although occasionally during their sparring sessions she would pout a little and look as though she might cry, she always got back up and tried harder to better herself. She had taken Jaeger's advice and begun wearing her hair in a long pleat down her back, meaning she was at least no longer hindered by it in combat.

"Do you know, each group is tested separately and at different times," she said, wiping some rainwater from her face and turning to Jaeger. "Which means we could probably watch the other groups in their testing, just so see what it takes to be in Intelligence or the Elites."

"People will be watching us during our assessment?" Jaeger asked, suddenly panic-stricken by the very notion.

"Only the teachers here," Fiona replied. "The students aren't allowed to really, but you can bet some of them will still spy on us."

"They could do that?"

"Yes, and we should too! Don't you want to see how the son of General Kinniku and the son of Robin Mask perform?"

"But what if we get caught?"

"We could go with Eskara. He'll probably want to watch the others, and if he falls asleep, we can run at the first sign of being spotted, and he'll take the blame!"

Jaeger pulled a face at Fiona, wondering if she realised just how unethical her little plan actually was.

"The only bad thing is, group C sit their assessments first," she said, lowering her head in thought. "Which is a pity, I was hoping to watch what some of the other cadets do and maybe steal a few ideas."

"We're going first?" Jaeger asked, blanking out Fiona's second immoral thought.

"Yes, our assessment is from 7am to 10am, group B are assessed from 11am to 2pm and group A are assessed from 3pm to 6pm," she replied. "But I would still like to see how they all do."

"Terryman said the results will be posted in the main hall," Jaeger pointed out.

"That doesn't matter, I want to see them in action!"

Jaeger laughed nervously as Fiona began shadow boxing, grinning like a little girl. He was curious to see how the other groups would perform, and the idea of watching them did appeal to him; but equally he did not want to get caught in the act and have his grades suffer in any way. Jaeger had been working very hard and believed he had done quite well in classes, and he hoped to continue his good performance on through his three assessments. He decided he ought to advise Fiona against potentially getting herself into any bother by spying on the other groups when he was distracted by an approaching figure, running towards them through the storm, looking and sounding thoroughly exhausted. Jaeger squinted against the rain, realising that, from the direction of approach, it appeared the cadet had just run the perimeter of the complex, which was a little over five miles. He silently wondered what person could possibly want to do such a thing in the awful weather and on the night before their first assessment, when Fiona unwittingly answered his questions for him.

"Hey, it's Roxanne!" she said cheerfully, waving a hand above her head. "Hi Roxanne!"

Jaeger watched as Roxanne slowed to a halt a short distance in front of Fiona, leaning over and grabbing her hands at her knees, breathing heavily. She was drenched from head to toe in a combination of rainwater and sweat, and unlike Jaeger and Fiona who were wearing their over-shirts, Roxanne was dressed in just her combats and tank-top, her bare arms and face red from the cold.

"Hey Roxanne, are you ready for your assessment tomorrow?" Fiona asked her.

"No," Roxanne replied breathlessly, straightening up and wiping her hands over her face.

Apparently she had been touching something dirty, because whilst she succeeded in removing most of the liquid from her face, she replaced it with smears of mud.

"You're looking great!" Fiona said brightly.

Jaeger pulled a face at his sparring partner, silently wondering if she had lost her mind that night: first with all her talk of insubordination and now telling blatant lies to Roxanne, who clearly looked quite dreadful.

"Those guys…" Roxanne continued, still fighting for air. "Are just… Leagues ahead… Of me…"

"You'll be fine!" Fiona insisted. "Hey Jaeger," she added, turning to Jaeger. "This is Roxanne, she's one of my room-mates, and she's in group A!"

Roxanne turned to Jaeger, a look of terror passing over her face. She hurriedly swiped a hand at her forehead again to remove the sweat and rainwater that had gathered there again, leaving another, bigger, muddy smear over her skin.

"Hi Jaeger," she gasped. "How… How are you?"

Jaeger nodded his head at her, not particularly wishing to voice his reply lest he accidentally tell her what he was really thinking at that moment: Roxanne was going to fail the first assessment and be on a spaceship back to Earth within the week.

"Jaeger's in my class," Fiona answered for him. "He's the guy I've been telling you about, my training buddy!"

Roxanne baulked, glancing back and forth between Jaeger and Fiona.

"You?" she asked, pointing at Jaeger. "You're Fiona's… Training buddy?"

Jaeger nodded again.

"Oh wow…" Roxanne said, nodding her head. "Guess I was… Wrong about you… I thought maybe… You were a… Sexist pig…"

Jaeger stiffened at her accusation. Although he had really known very little about women before arriving at the Hercules Factory – and frankly he had expected very little of them also – Jaeger had quickly learned during his time with Fiona that women were sometimes not all that different from men.

"Well I should… Get going…" Roxanne said quietly, lowering her head. "Good luck you guys… Both of you."

She turned to Jaeger, looking directly into his eyes for a prolonged moment before jogging off again, heading towards the main entrance to the Hercules Factory. Fiona began to shake her head, and Jaeger turned to her questioningly.

"She's pushing herself so hard," she explained as she caught Jaeger's eye. "She's comparing herself against her classmates, which is unreasonable, she could never be Kevin Mask or Jacqueline McMadd."

Jaeger let out a small snort, nodding his agreement. Although he had only seen Jacqueline in passing since his first day at the Hercules Factory, she was still as radiant and confident as ever, and almost the exact opposite of Roxanne, who was, in Jaeger's opinion, a long way off from being a good soldier.

"We should get an early night, we start our assessment at seven!" Fiona said, looking at the clock set high in the wall above them.

"Right," Jaeger agreed. "I'll see you there. Good luck Fiona."

"I don't need it!" Fiona said, grinning and winking at him. "But you sure do, so good luck to you!"

"Hey!" Jaeger protested.

But Fiona merely laughed at his response and ran off after Roxanne, leaving him alone in the rain. He stood where Fiona had left him for a moment, his mind reeling as he tried to remember anything and everything that he might be tested on the next day; but another vicious growl of thunder and almost immediate flash of lightning sent him running back to the main entrance. He ran all the way back to his room, where he found Road Rage already in his bunk attempting sleep and Hydrazoa sitting in his bed reading a book on information handling. Turning to the other bunk, Jaeger saw his own bed and Eskara's were both empty.

"Haven't seen him all day," Hydrazoa offered as he noticed the frown on Jaeger's face.

Jaeger turned to Hydrazoa, who shrugged.

"He's always getting himself into trouble one way or the other, but his performance in class has been pretty good, I doubt he'll miss the assessment tomorrow," he said.

Jaeger nodded, silently hoping that Hydrazoa was correct. When he was not slacking off or playing tricks on his fellow students, Eskara was quite knowledgeable and very strong, and Jaeger hoped that he would settle down into the life of a soldier soon, because Jaeger hoped that they would graduate in the same class and serve together. Of all the cadets he had met during his six weeks at the Hercules Factory, Jaeger truly felt that Eskara was the one he trusted the most to watch his back in a battle.

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**Next Chapter:** It's assessment time for the trainee soldiers, and things don't seem to be going as any of them had expected. **Chapter 4 – All's Fair.**


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